FROM METHANE TO HYDROGEN, CARBON-BLACK AND WATER

Most of the total world production of hydrogen comes from Vapor cracki ng of methane. Even though methane is the least carbogen of all hydroc arbons, steam conversion of one ton of methane is accompanied by the e mission of about four tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Simple thermoly sis of methane being no more endothermic than the vapor cracking react ion, cracking methane without any oxygen into carbon and hydrogen shou ld, theoretically, be no more energy-expensive than existing processes . To be effective, such a thermolysis needs a very high temperature re action which, with recent improvements in plasma technology, is now ac cessible. The main advantage of carrying out thermolysis at high tempe rature is that, while producing hydrogen, reaction conditions may also be favourable for carbon black production. From physical consideratio ns related to existing processes, the authors present a theoretical st udy which could open the way to new plasma-assisted processes. More an ecdotally, a certain number of natural gas resources remain unexploite d due to their isolation; it is theoretically possible to transform th ese resources into carbon and water without any external energy supply . It would then be possible to irrigate the desert while producing a s olid state product whose transport may be easier than gas.